Board Game Reviews, Reports, and Reflections.

Playdek Announces the Digital Release of Fort Sumter: The Secession Crisis, 1860-1861 from GMT Games

In case you’ve been living under a rock this past year, you are aware of the new and improved partnership between GMT Games and Playdek, Inc. to bring to us digital versions of our favorite board wargames. Last summer came the announcement that the follow up to the very successful digital version of Twilight Struggle would be Labyrinth: The War on Terror, 2001-?. That game is still in development as we found out last year at Gen Con with an interview we shot with Playdek CEO Joel Goodman and Gary Weis.

Then there have been much speculation and prognostications over what game might be next. Well, no need to wonder any longer as there is an announcement today that ends the speculation.

Fort Sumter: The Secession Crisis, 1860-1861

Fort Sumter: The Secession Crisis, 1860-1861 from GMT Games is a fast playing Card Driven Game that focuses on the events leading up to the eventual secession from the Union of the State of South Carolina on December 20, 1860 and the commencement of hostilities in the American Civil War as the CSA began the bombardment of Fort Sumter located in Charleston, South Carolina, on April 12-14, 1861. The game is not a wargame but a historically themed battle of the wills as players use cards to place Political Capital Tokens in various colored spaces located on the map in order to gain control over those aspects of the crisis. This game was a big hit to me last summer as it provided a light yet fun to play strategy game that could be played by anyone, not just hard core wargamers. In fact, my wife and I have played this game nearly 40 times over the past year, usually doing the best of 3 plays. She loves the game and it has been great to play together and see how our strategy and understanding of the game has grown leading us to very close and often only 1 point victories.

Playdek has announced that they will next make a digital version of this fantastic game and I couldn’t be more pleased as it will bring a greater audience to this fantastic game!

At this point I don’t know of any details about a timeline or release date but I have been told that there will be more information forthcoming shortly including game play videos.

Yes, considering how incredibly popular SE4X is, I am a bit surprised it wasn’t the obvious first choice for a digital version. Oh well, I am sure they have their reasons. Maybe they could do a Kickstarter campaign, like they did for Twilight Struggle digital (which btw, is excellent).